Shining

p. a. 1. Bright; splendid; radiant.

2Sense 2. Illustrious; distinguished; conspicuous; as, a shining example of charity.

3Sense 3. (Bot.) Having the surface smooth and polished;—said of leaves. Lindley.

Synonyms—Glistening; bright; radiant; resplendent; effulgent; lustrous; brilliant; glittering; splendid; illustrious.—SHINING, BRILLIANT, SPARKLING. Shining describes the emission of a strong light from a clear or polished surface. Brilliant denotes a shining of great brightness, but with gleams or flashes. Sparkling implies a shining intensely from radiant points or sparks, by which the eye is dazzled. The same distinctions obtain when these epithets are figuratively applied. A man of shining talents is made conspicuous by possessing them; if they flash upon the mind with a peculiarly striking effect, we call them brilliant; if his brilliancy is marked by great vivacity and occasional intensity, he is sparkling.

True paradise inclosed with shining rock. Milton.

Some in a brilliant buckle bind her waist, Some round her neck a circling light display. Gay.

His sparkling blade about his head he blest, And smote off quite his left leg by the knee, That down he tumbled. Spencer.